Communication plays a major role in

developing a relationship. It can also affect the

relationship among family members or
management in any institute. More specifically,
communication influences the effectiveness of
instruction, performance evaluation, and the
handling of discipline problems.
Communication should be straightforward.
What can make it complex, difficult, and
frustrating are the barriers. Some barriers of
communication are the following

Barriers of Communication
Physiological Barrier
Poor Listening Skills
Information Overload
Inattention
Emotions
Poor Retention
Physical and Environmental Distractions
Psychological Barrier
Social Barriers
Cultural Barriers
Semantic Barrier
LinguisticBarriers
Past Experience
Organizational Barriers
Technological Failure
Time Pressures
Complexity in Organizational Structure
Unclear Messages
Stereotypes
Physiological barriers to communication
are related with the limitations of the
human body and the human mind
(memory, attention, and perception).
Physiological barriers may result from
individuals’ personal discomfort, caused
by ill-health, poor eye sight, or hearing
difficulties.

Physiological Barrier
Listening to others is considered a difficult task. A
typical speaker says about 125 words per minute.
The typical listener can receive 400–600 words
per minute. Thus, about three-fourth of listening
time is free time. The free time often sidetracks
the listener. The solution is to be an active rather
than passive listener.
A listener's premature frown, shaking of the
head, or bored look can easily convince the other
person/speaker that there is no reason to
elaborate or try again to communicate his/her
excellent idea

Poor Listening Skills

Poor Retention
Human memory cannot function beyond a limit.
One cannot always retain all the facts/information
about what is being told to him/her especially if
he/she is not interested or not attentive. This
leads to communication breakdown.
Physical and Environmental Distractions
Physical distractions are the physical things that
get in the way of communication. Examples of such
things include the telephone, an uncomfortable
meeting place, and noise. These physical
distractions are common in the hospital setting.
If the telephone rings, the usual human tendency will be
to answer it even if the caller is interrupting a very
important or even delicate conversation. Distractions
such as background noise, poor lighting, uncomfortable
sitting, unhygienic room, or an environment that is too
hot or cold can affect people's morale and concentration,
which in turn interfere with effective communication.
Psychological Barrier
Psychological factors such as misperception, filtering,
distrust, unhappy emotions, and people's state of mind
can jeopardize the process of communication. We all
tend to feel happier and more receptive to information
when the sun shines. Similarly, if someone has personal
problems such as worries and stress about a chronic
illness, it may impinge his/her communication with
others.
 The emotional state of a person at a particular
point of time affects his/her communication with
others as it has an impact on the body language
(nonverbal communication). If the receiver feels
that the sender is angry (emotional state), he/she
can easily infer that the information being obtained
will be very terrible.
Emotional state causes some physiological changes
in our body that may affect the pronunciation,
pressure of the speech, and tone of the voice of the
sender as well as the perception, thinking process,
and information interpretation of the receiver
during verbal communication.

Emotions
Social Barriers
Social barriers to communication include the social
psychological phenomenon of conformity, a process in which
the norms, values, and behaviors of an individual begin to
follow those of the wider group. Social factors such as age,
gender, socioeconomic status, and marital status may act as
a barrier to communication in certain situations.
Cultural Barriers
Culture shapes the way we think and behave. It can be seen
as both shaping and being shaped by our established patterns
of communication. Cultural barrier to communication often
arises when individuals in one social group have developed
different norms, values, or behaviors to individuals associated
with another group. Cultural difference leads to difference in
interest, knowledge, value, and tradition. Therefore, people of
different cultures will experience these culture factors as a
barrier to communicate with each other.
Information Overload
Nurses are surrounded with a pool of information. It is
essential to control the flow of the information, else the
information is likely to be misinterpreted or forgotten
or overlooked. As a result, communication may get
distorted.
Inattention
At times, we just do not listen but only hear. For
example, your boss is immersed in his/her very
important paper work surrounded by so many files on
the table and you are explaining him/her about an
urgent office problem. In this situation, due to the
inattention, the boss will not listen to you (he/she will
only hear you); hence, he/she may not get what you
are saying and it may lead to disappointment.
Language, jargon, slang, etc., are some of the semantic
barriers. Different languages across different regions represent
a national barrier to communication, which is particularly
important for migrating nurses. Use of jargon and slang also act
as barrier to communication. For example, while delivering
health education to a cardiac patient, if a cardiac nurse uses
jargons such as “coronary artery disease,” “anticoagulants,”
and “homocysteine and C-reactive proteins,” the patient will
listen attentively as he/she cannot understand these medical
jargons. Therefore, she is required to use simple words “heart
ki nadi ki bimari,” “khoon patla karne ki dawai,” and “certain
chemicals in our body” so that the patient can understand what
the nurse is supposed to communicate with him/he

Semantic Barrier
Linguistic Barriers
Individual linguistic ability may sometimes become a
barrier to communication. The use of difficult or
inappropriate words in communication can prevent the
people from understanding the message. Poorly
explained or misunderstood messages can also result
in confusion. The linguistic differences between the
people can also lead to communication breakdown.
The same word may mean differently to different
individuals. For example, consider a word “face.” ƒ He
is facing a problem ƒ What is the face value of this
share bond? ƒ Your face is oval shape “Face” means
differently in different sentences. Communication
breakdown occurs if there is wrong perception of the
meaning of the message by the receiver.
Past Experience
If someone has awful experiences in the past related to
some particular situation, then he/she will try to avoid
communication in that situation. For example, a staff
nurse who, while providing detailed information regarding
the patient care at the time of routine clinical round to her
boss, is always facing negative body language and
discouraging words from her boss will ultimately limit her
communication to the boss at that time.
Organizational Barriers
Unclear planning, structure, information overload, timing,
technology, and status difference are the organizational
factors that may act as barriers to communication.
 Technological Failure Message not delivered due to
technical failure (e.g., receiver was not in mobile network
area and the sender has not activated delivery report in
message setting